Hyderabad: Justice Ramesh Ranganathan of the AP High Court on Monday summoned the additional director-general of police of the Crime Investigation Department to explain the reasons for not following a court direction.
The judge was dealing with a petition by Kuruva Ramudu, a resident of Banavasi village, Yemmiganur mandal, Kurnool district, seeking a direction to the CID to conduct a probe into the misappropriation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme funds by a former MLA and a former Mandal president and Mandal Parishad development officer and former sarpanch of the village.
The judge had sought a preliminary report from the authorities earlier, and the report disclosed that allegations by the petitioner regarding misuse of funds are substantially true, and that funds were released in the names of students, dead persons, non-existent persons and government employees.
After perusing the preliminary report, the judge felt that “it does not stand to reason that the enquiry being caused into misappropriation of public money should be limited only to those names found mention in the complaint submitted by the petitioner. The head of the CID shall enquire into release and utilisation of funds under the scheme for the village for the preceding two years, 2011-2012 and 2012-2013.”
The judge directed the CID chief to file a report after ascertaining whether the persons in whose favour payments were made were eligible for the same, whether they are residents of the village, whether the amounts said to have been paid had, in fact, been paid, and the quantum and extent of misappropriation of funds under the scheme. The judge granted a week's time to the official to file the report.
When the report was placed before the judge on Monday, he found that the report was signed by a subordinate officer instead of the CID chief.
